1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle headlight circuits and more particularly pertains to a preheating method and apparatus for a high beam filament associated with a vehicle headlight.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of dual filament vehicle headlights is well known in the prior art. At the present time, only the low beam filament is activated when the associated low beam circuit of the headlight is utilized. Upon an activation of the high beam circuit, a high beam filament is provided with power while all power is removed from the low beam filament. Quite frequently, this sudden burst of electrical energy to the high beam filament results in substantial temperature shock damage whereby the expected use life of the high beam filament is reduced. The high beam filament damage is occasioned by the sudden change in temperature resulting from the activation of the electrical energy source from the high beam circuit. Additionally, utilizing only the high beam filament to achieve high intensity light results in substantial cooling and heating changes for the low beam filament and accordingly, there appears to be a need to normalize the temperatures between the filaments while also providing for increased headlight intensity. In this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.